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Oy, Tannenbaum from page 42
His Hanukkah Tree Topper "has been the
No. I -selling tree topper on Amazon. corn,"
says creator Morri Chowaiki.
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December2011
the Chanukah tree topper as "good for
the Jews"? Not a dreidel's chance. But
that doesn't mean there isn't a market
of potential Jewish buyers who might
consider the toppers as "goods for the
Jews."
Chowaiki, who has a background in
marketing, cites the near 50 percent
intermarriage rate of the year 2000
National Jewish Population Study in
estimating the potential audience for
his topper at "between 500,000 and 1
million households:' He sees them as
the "co-exist" market.
He says he created the topper for
his own family; Chowaiki is married
to a non-Jew and raising his children
Jewishly.
"I never intended it as a gag gift.
This is not Hanukkah Harry:' he said,
referring to a popular novelty item of
previous holiday seasons and a char-
acter on Saturday Night Live. He also
doesn't see his product as "blasphemy"
Still for many Jews, Chowaiki may
need to contend with the "ick" factor.
In New York at a trade show, while
many passers-by exhibited interest,
one referred to his product as "disgust-
ing."
Then there's the issue of the tree
that his product tops.
Growing up in the 1960s in a neigh-
borhood where trees and lights deco-
rated most homes, my parents regularly
denounced "those people who had a
Chanukah bush." Then as well as now,
in many areas of Judaism, the bush
is still considered assimilative. The
debate has even entered into children's
literature with the publishing in 1983 of
Susan Sussman's There's No Such Thing
as a Chanukah Bush, Sandy Goldstein.
Yet today the market may have shift-
ed. With another marketer selling and
advertising dreidel stockings in the
Los Angeles Jewish Journal, it seems we
now may feel freer than ever to wear
our assimilation openly.
Not that we haven't assimilated
before. Several sources refer to influ-
ences of the Italian Carnival as a
source for the Purim tradition of
wearing masks and costumes.
Historically the Star of David, or
Magen David, is a symbol in flux; it
is not mentioned in rabbinic litera-
ture until the Middle Ages. Nor is it a
purely religious symbol, as many now
wear the star simply to show Jewish
identity. I've seen huge gold Stars of
David hawked by street vendors in
the downtown garment district of Los
Angeles, spotted even bigger ones on
the facades of evangelical churches
and eaten Star of David-shaped cook-
ies.
Is the Hanukkah Tree Topper sim-
ply continuing a trend of broadening
usage?
"It's the mixing of the two religions
that makes this different:' said Karen
Kushner, the chief education director
of InterfaithFamily, a website for inter-
faith couples exploring "Jewish life and
making Jewish choices?'
However, the intermarriage statis-
tics and the existence of sites such
as InterfaithFamily seem to indicate
that Jews as a group are quite open to
mixing.
"There are couples living very
Jewish lives, yet have a corner of
Christmas in their homes:' Kushner
said. "I don't see it as a catastrophe
Still, she was somewhat skeptical of
the Hanukkah Tree Topper. Speaking
of the move toward mixing Christmas
and Chanukah, Kushner said, "There
are people trying to create a big
product around it, and it doesn't go
anywhere."
Then why the surfeit of six-pointed
Christmas tree toppers?
"The most positive reviews are from
people who are not Jewish," Chowaiki
said, adding that the topper could be
seen by non-Jews as "a symbol of sup-
port for the State of Israel."
But he also notes, "I am not promot-
ing Christianity. It is not our intention
to promote that Jesus was Jewish or
that he was born in Israel.
"You can't change inferfaith families.
I wanted to give these people some-
thing to celebrate with." r7